“Stint on the Plinth” – the final DeeVAS analysis

Posted by DeeVAS on Sep 3, 2009 in The Fourth Plinth | 1 comment

It’s all over. “Stint on the Plinth” has come and gone. Everyone was hugely supportive, though I’ve had a few rude comments about using my time to promote my business, but I don’t really care. If you watch again, I think I actually only mentioned my business name twice. Apart from the leaflets being distributed at ground level by my supporters, there was no company branding or anything else of the sort. If anything, the Molton Brown paper bag, that I took up with me, got more product placement than I did.

The wireless megaphone that I brought with me, gave me all sorts of headache, as you ALL heard but I didn’t let it stop me. I’ve never done any kind of public speaking before. Tuesday was my first time. If it was rubbish, put it down to my being unseasoned. Did I come across as passionate? I hope I did. I am passionate about the industry I work in now, not just my business. Did I convey the message I wanted? I hope so. My aims were to

1. make more people aware of the Virtual Assistant Industry
2. to show people could see that the technology that we have available to us, allows everyone, not just Virtual Assistants the opportunity to work flexibly from wherever they want.
3. fly the flag for home based businesses

I think sitting in the freezing cold, 6.7m up from the ground adequately demonstrated aim number 2. I also hope I flew the flag for home based businesses everywhere by setting up the smallest home office the Plinth has ever seen. I regard my netbook as my “office” when I am out of the physical one.

Being on the Fourth Plinth was a challenge in more ways than one for me as I don’t like heights, I’m not fond of being the centre of attention and I don’t like public speaking very much. I overcame these fears to take part.

Thank you to everyone who participated at home and on the ground. I was inundated with texts, tweets AND phone calls, so I couldn’t reply to everyone. I’m slowly getting round to replying to you all. There were lots of people I wanted to mention but forgot to because I was so engrossed with my interactions. So here it goes for nothing:

• To Anthony Gormley and the oneandother team.

• Rebekah Harriman (@RebekahHarriman on Twitter). It was her tweet that inspired me to apply. She was hugely supportive the minute she knew I was selected. I never thought I would ever be chosen, so thank you!

• Emily Robe, Anne-Marie Mittelman, (@emilyrobe & @AVirtualAngel). They are my fellow co-founders of the Virtual Assistant Support Group (VASG). They were my rocks and full of wonderful ideas for my time on the Plinth, which I did’t get to execute. Anne-Marie was a huge help on the day too. A big thank goes out to all the VASG members for tweeting and texting, during my hour and for being on the Plinth with me in “virtual spirit”

• Charlotte Everiss (@virtualgirluk) the best Associate a VA could have. She’s a Web 2.0 expert (in my humble opinion). Charlie sorted out my press release and did the media “ring rounds” whilst I was ill. www.virtualsecretarysolutions.co.uk

• To my friend Tanya Clarke (@tanyajustine) for suggesting I send a tweet to Sarah Brown (@SarahBrown10) who has taken in interest the Plinthers. She did take an interest so thank you.

• Emma Jones and all the Enterprise Nation crew. Thank you for supporting me and generating my first piece of coverage ever. For those of you who don’t know Enterprise Nation, well it’s THE biggest free resource for home based businesses. If you’re not aware of them, see what you’re missing here www.enterprisenation.com

• Thank you to Alicia Cowan of Absolute PA www.absolutepa.com. I was allowed to have with me, one person only,  at the oneandother Welcome Centre. Alicia agreed to be my person. We connected via Twitter months ago and she is a member of VASG. We met for the firs time on Tuesday and she is just as lovely as her “online” self

• All my Twitter followers for participating,  I have loads, so I’m sorry if I don’t mention you all here; @LondonDiva, @badhousewife, @FullMetalAnnie, @BradBurton, @mumstheboss, @DedikatedVA, @mediocremum, @NorwichPA – too many, you know who you all are.

• Last but not certainly not least, thanks to my wonderful family. To my wonderful daughters who handed out my leaflets and business cards on the ground and were my office assistants on the day, my Mummy, sister and brother who braved the cold to come and watch and my extended family watching at home. My wonderful HY2020 – thank you for being my support as always and nursing me through my chest infection.

So that’s it. “Stint on the Plinth” is well and truly over for me but the Fourth Plinth will always have a special significance for me. I am now part of a select few people who can say that they took part in a unique project that involved the people of the UK, from all walks of life. Being on the Plinth helped me overcome many fears and I now think that if I could stand there for an hour, in the cold, trying to engage the world around me, well heck I can do anything now. World watch out…….!